Activities

Towards an African network of journalists, specialising in migration issues

PIWA organised two workshops in Abidjan from 25 to 29 August 2014: one themed training workshop for 20 journalists and one in investigative journalism for 8 mainstream journalists.

This regional project led by the PIWA in Niger, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Ghana aims to encourager the involvement of the media in the regular production and dissemination of rigorous, critical, professional, diverse and above all alternative information on migration issues in West Africa. The project “Reporters on the borders-Towards an African network of journalists, professionals and citizens, specialising in migration issues” is financed by the European Union. In spite of the development of ICTs and the media, the treatment of migration issues remains marginal in relation to other issues. Little journalistic work is done on migration issues… and this situation is partly explained by often limited capacities, for example at the local level, community radio stations, poorly equipped and structured, struggle to deal with the concerns of its public related to migration and to relay the voices of migrants; at the national level, professional (mainstream) journalists that could have helped in this regard produce very little comprehensive information on the impacts and challenges of migration. The training will take place in two parts, one themed part, which will relate to the legal instruments and mechanisms of the ECOWAS and the African Union relative to migration, such as the right of migrants, human mobility, country-specific migration, and the management of migration within the ECOWAS. The second part will be a training in investigative journalism.

The 20 media representatives will be selected by our country partners based on criteria established by the PIWA (12 mainstream and 8 community radio stations). These 8 community radio stations will gave already received training in oral testimony techniques hence the need to reinforce these skills. This training in investigation will be followed by a one-month production campaign carried out by the 8 media outlets having received the training in investigative journalism.